ATGCLVLSSCAP

Last updated
ATGCLVLSSCAP
ATGCLVLSSCAP.jpg
Studio album by
Released22 January 2016 (2016-01-22)
RecordedFebruary 2014
Studio
  • Subsonic Society, Oslo, Norway
  • Oak Hill Studios, Oslo, Norway
Genre
Length80:05
Label House of Mythology
Producer Ulver
Ulver chronology
Terrestrials
(2014)
ATGCLVLSSCAP
(2016)
Riverhead
(2016)
Ulver studio album chronology
Terrestrials
(2014)
ATGCLVLSSCAP
(2016)
The Assassination of Julius Caesar
(2017)

ATGCLVLSSCAP is the tenth studio album by Norwegian experimental electronica band Ulver. Written, performed and produced by Ulver, the album was released on 22 January 2016 via newly formed, London-based label House of Mythology. [1]

Contents

The music was culled from multitrack recordings made at twelve different improvisatory "free rock" live shows the band performed in February 2014, and later edited and enhanced in the studio by Daniel O'Sullivan. [2] [3] The album has been described as "Ultimately a piece of work that exists above and beyond any conventional live recording, rather a hallucinatory travelogue as potent an experience to bear witness to as it was to construct." [2]

On 30 October 2015 the song "Cromagnosis" was broadcast on Baba Yaga's Hut via online radio station Resonance FM, and later uploaded to Mixcloud.

The song "Moody Stix" features samples from the song "Doom Sticks" from A Quick Fix of Melancholy . "Glammer Hammer" reinterprets "Glamour Box (Ostinati)" from Messe I.X–VI.X . "Nowhere (Sweet Sixteen)" is a new arrangement of "Nowhere/Catastrophe", and "Ecclesiastes (A Vernal Catnap)" reinterprets the ending of "Tomorrow Never Knows"; both original songs are from Perdition City . "England's Hidden" contains vocal samples of "England" from Wars of the Roses .

The album's title, ATGCLVLSSCAP, is an initialism referring to the first letter of each twelve signs of the zodiac, from Aries to Pisces. [4]

Background

On 2 January 2014 Ulver announced an 11-date European tour: "the February dates will consist of partly new and improv-based material, likely to revolve around motifs already familiar to our familiars. We had a good experience doing just that (improv) in Oslo in August, so a more free-ranging form is what we are aiming for this time. We are looking forward to get out there, and hope for some interesting music to be born those evenings and nights. We also aim to document some of it for those of you who cannot come." [5] Kristoffer Rygg added, "The tour was to be an experiment, kind of loose and scary for a band as 'set in their ways' as us... It is partly borne out of that feeling, being a bit bored with the circumstances. It was quite liberating to do something more in the moment. One night a jam could be five minutes, and the next it could be fifteen. We couldn’t have captured these songs in a studio environment." [2]

On 3 June 2015, on the band’s official website, in a statement titled "Only Theatre of Pain", Ulver announced Daniel O'Sullivan, working under the moniker "12", had taken the multitrack recordings and begun sculpting and editing hours of material in his North London home, [6] before Anders Møller, Kristoffer Rygg and Tore Ylwizaker got involved, completing the recordings at Subsonic Society and Oak Hill Studios, Oslo. [2]

2014 tour itinerary

ATGCLVLSSCAP was recorded on the following dates:

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 70/100 [7]
Review scores
SourceRating
Aftenposten Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [8]
Drowned in Sound Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Kerrang! Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Louder Than War Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [11]
MusicOMH Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [12]
Metal Hammer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [13]
PopMatters Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [14]
Pitchfork 6.5/10 [15]
Sputnikmusic4.1/5 [16]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [17]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ATGCLVLSSCAP has an average score of 70 based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [7]

The Quietus wrote, "Ulver have clearly perfected the art of musical metamorphosis, yet they opt to balance all of their previous learnings on ATGCLVLSSCAP. Traces of so much lie therein, and each of the twelve tracks gives more with every listen, revealing new depths and fresh signposts to previous musics. ATGCLVLSSCAP is surely the most fully realised album they'll ever release." [18] Dom Lawson of Metal Hammer praised the album, adding, "Ulver continue to transform themselves at will and the results are thrillingly unpredictable but predictably thrilling." [19]

Writing for musicOMH , Sam Shepherd concludes, "ATGCLVLSSCAP is an album that explores the cosmos through a series of dichotomies. It is instinctive but planned, primal but enlightened, and hazy but focused. The only sure thing about it is that it is Ulver's finest work to date." [12] Benjamin Bland from Drowned in Sound said, "In a not dissimilar fashion to 2014's collaboration with Sunn O))), ATGCLVLSSCAP unhurriedly glides through its run time (a breezy seventy-nine minutes) without ever feeling ponderous. Building up so many layers of gorgeous sound over its initial hour that its transformation into more traditional song craft near its conclusion feels more like the beginning than the end. Despite its hefty length, then, ATGCLVLSSCAP works as a triumphant departure from the confines of the temporal." [9]

Jedd Beaudoin of PopMatters said, "Ulver creates its own world with this album, exists on its own terms and asks us to consider embracing something that is outside the norm but well within the human experience and worth the journey of transformation it takes us on. Ulver has once more created a record that will live far beyond this time and will be spoken of in the most reverent of tones and that’s as it should be." [14] John Robb from Louder Than War described the albums as "an aural adventure to get lost in. A droning dark masterpiece of groundbreaking music that slithers out of dull and boring stuff like categories. 23 years in and the band are on the verge of becoming a major force. ATGCLVLSSCAP is their statement. It's diverse, multi faceted and beautifully dark. It's the soundtrack to a film that only exists in your head. It is grand, thrilling and darkly restless. It has a beauty and danger and is utterly compelling." [11]

Paul Travers from Kerrang! was much more critical, saying, "There are some nice hypnotic grooves, but this smells mostly of self-indulgence. Worse, it’s boring as hell, proving even geniuses can misstep." [20]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."England's Hidden"7:43
2."Glammer Hammer"4:49
3."Moody Stix"6:42
4."Cromagnosis"9:48
5."The Spirits That Lend Strength Are Invisible"3:16
6."Om Hanumate Namah"7:42
7."Desert/Dawn"8:27
8."D-Day Drone"9:22
9."Gold Beach"4:58
10."Nowhere (Sweet Sixteen)"5:57
11."Ecclesiastes (A Vernal Catnap)"9:02
12."Solaris"2:18
Total length:80:05

Personnel

On stage

Behind the scenes

Charts

Chart (2016)Peak
position
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [21] 45

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulver</span> Norwegian experimental/avant-garde band

Ulver is a Norwegian experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album Bergtatt, were categorised as folklore-influenced black metal, but the band has since evolved a fluid and increasingly eclectic musical style, blending genres such as experimental rock, electronica, ambient, trip hop, symphonic and chamber traditions, noise, progressive and experimental music into their oeuvre. 1997 marked their international debut with the release of their third album Nattens madrigal through German label Century Media. However, following discord with the label, Rygg formed his own imprint, Jester Records, in 1998.

<i>Nattens madrigal</i> 1997 studio album by Ulver

Nattens Madrigal – Aatte Hymne Til Ulven I Manden is the third studio album by Norwegian band Ulver, issued on 3 March 1997 via Century Media. Composed and arranged during the first half of 1995, Nattens is a concept album about wolves, the night, the moon, and the dark side of mankind.

<i>A Quick Fix of Melancholy</i> 2003 EP by Ulver

A Quick Fix of Melancholy is the fourth EP by Norwegian experimental collective Ulver. Produced in the Winter of 2002, the EP was issued on 26 August 2003 via Jester Records. A precursor to the album Blood Inside, A Quick Fix of Melancholy showcases the band's ability to seamlessly combine ambient and electronic music with orchestral elements.

<i>Bergtatt – Et eeventyr i 5 capitler</i> 1995 studio album by Ulver

Bergtatt – Et eeventyr i 5 capitler is the debut studio album by the Norwegian band Ulver, issued on February 1995 via Head Not Found. The album was recorded at Endless Lydstudio in Oslo in November and December 1994 with Kristian Romsøe as engineer and co-producer.

<i>Themes from William Blakes The Marriage of Heaven and Hell</i> 1998 studio album by Ulver

Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is the fourth studio album by Norwegian experimental electronica band Ulver. Produced with Kristoffer Rygg, together with Knut Magne Valle and Tore Ylwizaker, it was issued on 17 December 1998 via Jester Records. It is a musical adaptation of William Blake's poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The album blends electronics, industrial music elements, progressive metal, avant-garde rock and ambient passages, following Blake's plates as track indexes. Stine Grytøyr, Ihsahn, Samoth and Fenriz all feature as guest vocalists.

<i>Kveldssanger</i> 1996 studio album by Ulver

Kveldssanger is the second studio album by Norwegian band Ulver, issued in March 1996 via Head Not Found. The album was recorded at Endless Lydstudio, Oslo, Norway in the summer and autumn of 1995, with Kristian Romsøe as engineer and co-producer.

<i>Perdition City</i> 2000 studio album by Ulver

Perdition City is the fifth studio album by Norwegian experimental electronica band Ulver, issued in March 2000, via Jester Records. The album was recorded and produced by Kristoffer Rygg and Tore Ylwizaker, mixed by Ylwizaker at Beep Jam Studio and mastered by Audun Strype at Strype Audio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristoffer Rygg</span> Musical artist

Kristoffer Rygg, also known as Garm, Trickster G. Rex and God Head, is a heavy-metal vocalist, musician and producer known primarily for his work with Ulver, Arcturus, and Borknagar.

<i>Metamorphosis</i> (EP) 1999 EP by Ulver

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel O'Sullivan (musician)</span> British musician

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References

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  10. 20 January 2016
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  13. January 2016, p.124
  14. 1 2 Beaudoin, Jedd (15 January 2016). "Ulver ATGCLVLSSCAP".
  15. Camp, Zoe (29 January 2016). "Ulver ATGCLVLSSCAP".
  16. K., Elijah (18 January 2016). "Ulver ATGCLVLSSCAP".
  17. January 2016, p.83
  18. Bath, Tristan (28 January 2016). "The Lead Review: Tristan Bath On Ulver's ATGCLVLSSCAP".
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  20. Travers, Paul (20 January 2016). "Ulver ATGCLVLSSCAP". Kerrang!. United Kingdom: Bauer Media Group.
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